I HAVE ARRIVED
by fireyred
Summary: A new member is going to turn the Kira case upside down and will probably send Light into a frenzy. And review please! And I do NOT own anything other than the original characters. Everything else belongs to Ohba-sensei and Obata-sensei.
1. Statement with an Enterance

God, who knew that Tokyo was so crowded? It's almost impossible to walk through this sea of people. And a few of them are looking at me like I'm insane. Well, maybe rollerblading on the sidewalks of Tokyo isn't the most normal way to get around, but it's fun and can be faster if there isn't as many people as there are now. It might also be the fact that I'm obviously not from around here. With my pale skin, natural dark red hair and different style of clothing; dark blue jeans with beaded details on the back pockets and a green,long-sleeved, light sweater that looks like two tops, but is really only one, and has a swooping neckline that shows just alittle bit of cleavage. It could also be that I'm carrying around two bags on one shoulder. It could be any of those three.

But I can't wait to see him again. It's been soooooo long. Long enough that I changed a lot about me. Last time he saw me, my hair was about half way up my upper arm, and now it's at my jaw line. And also, I wore glasses because I'm slightly near-sighted, but now, I can see!!! With contacs.

As I'm rollerblading down the sidewalk, I notice that people looking and talking. Though I can't hear what their saying. No, not because of the roar of the crowd, but my large style headphones that cover my entire ear and are pumping out some of my most favorite music, right now it's "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LLCoolJ. I was also too busy looking at street names and building addresses to notice them. I'm looking at a small piece of paper that has a name of a hotel, the address of said hotel, and a room number.

I finally arrived at it and skated my way through the lobby towards the elevators. Apparently the staff doesn't really like that I am rollerblading, because I think they were trying to talk to me. Oh well. As I am going over to the elevators, I see that one of them is about to go up and only one guy is in there.

"Wait!" I yell towards him. Thankfully he holds it open for me and I slide my way into the elevator, and straight into him. Again, thankfully I wasn't going very fast, so he didn't fall down, but he still had to grab ahold of my elbows to stop me properly. "Sorry, and thank you." I say in fluent Japanese as he lets go of me when I regain my balance. I go off to his side and look at the board with all the buttons and see that we are both going up to the eighth floor, so I don't bother to push it again.

After a few seconds of silence, I pause my ipod and pull my headphones so that they are hanging from my neck. I turn towards the guy and stick out my hand to handshake, "Hi, I'm Kari."(Her name is pronounced like Carrie, just spelled differently)

"Hello, I'm Yagami Light." he replies and shakes my hand. Now's a great time. Handshake is firm, but not hard. Hair is out of his face, swooped alittle, but styled nicely that makes him appear fashionable and professional at the same time. Clothes are definitely business. His bag is over his shoulder. He talks in a formal manner, the way to properly greet some complete stranger. Yep, he's a perfectionist. He looks about 5'10", pretty tall compared to my 5'5" height. Looks like he's around seventeen or eighteen, which makes him just out of high school. By his looks, I would say he's smart, genius maybe, and probably goes to Tokyo University if he's in college.

Our handshake ends after only a few seconds, but that was plenty of time for me to see what Yagami Light's about. I go back to grabbing the mid-way molding on the elevator walls with my nails to keep me from falling on my ass and make me look like a bigger idiot than he already thinks I am. He hasn't shown any sign that he thinks I'm weird, but he seems like the type of person that's good at hiding certain emotions.

The little bell dings to let us know that we're at the right floor.

We both step out of the elevator and walk down the same hallway. I'm slightly ahead of him because of my skates, but I can tell that we're heading the same way. This really makes me wonder why he's here.

I look back at the piece of paper to remind myself the room number, 824. I look over to the right side of the hallway, the one that has all the even numbers, and see 818...820...822...824, bingo. I stop by using the molding and start to repeatedly push on the little button that is the doorbell, without taking my finger off of it. I see out of the corner of my eye that Yagami Light has stopped in his tracks with an almost stunned look in his eyes, almost like he is surprised to see me at this door. Why would he?

When the door opened, I took a millisecond to make sure it was the right person before I flung myself towards him and into a hug. "Watari-san!! It's been so long!" I exclaim in happiness.

"It certainly has." he replies with a chuckle and as he's returning the loving embrace. We let go and I move into the room. As I'm going in, I hear Watari-san say, "Ah, Yagami-kun. Please, come in." I guess Light is working on this too. When I walked into the main room, I saw a group of five people, all males, but only one I recognized.

"L!" I yelled as I threw my arms open for a hug.

He got up from his normal sitting posture as he said, "It's Ryuzaki here. And you know that." He walks up to me and stands there.

"I know and I'm sorry." I say in a pouty voice, but then ask in an almost childish voice, "Hug?" He then lets out a long sigh, but returns the gesture. My wheels are tall enough and his posture is bad enough to where I can rest my head on his shoulder. "I've missed you so much Ryuzaki. It's been so long."

"I've missed you too." he replies. I notice that his hair is as messy as it's always been and that there are dark circles under his eyes, like he hasn't slept in a few days. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

We broke off and I spun around so that he could see every angle. "So, see anything different?" I ask him with a smile on my lips.

"You cut off all of your hair and you aren't wearing your glasses." he replies quickly. I sometimes hate it when he does that.

"I didn't cut it all off, just most of it. And I got contacs."

"In any case, go and get yourself freashened up and come back here so that we can tell you everything."

"Got it." I then turn towards the men that are still seated. They looked extremely confused. "I know what you're thinking:" I say, addressing the men, "Who the hell are you? Well, most people know me as Kari; in here, you call me Katie; but you probably know me as K: L's partner. See ya." I then turn towards the hall way that looks like it has my bedroom and bathroom and skate down it. I bet that they weren't expecting me to say that. From what I've heard, most people think that K is a middle-aged man. Man, voice-changers can leave a different impression.


	2. What do oysters and Kira have in common?

--L's POV--  
"You've got to be joking, Ryuzaki." Matsuda tells me, "There's no way that someone like that can help us on this case."

"I've got to agree." Yagami-kun started as he sat down, "From what I saw on the way up here, she's not all that bright and pretty clumsy. She might hurt this investigation more than she'll help it."

"You two met on the way up here?" I asked Yagami-kun.

"Yes." he replied, not sure where I was going with it.

"Did you talk to her?"

"Very briefly, but yes. Where is this going Ryuzaki?"

"She probably knows a lot about your personality then." I sat there thinking to myself what did she know about Yagami-kun and when can she tell me.

"What?"

"It's as you said, she really isn't that smart, but she is very good at reading people. She notices details in appearance, speech, actions, and mannerisms. If she knows a person long enough and knows so much about them, she can tell what they're thinking. She is also very quick about analyzing someone. She probably found out information about you in those couple of minutes that you didn't even know yourself."

"You're joking, right?"

"Why would I be? She's a good friend of mine and is willing to be part of this investigation. Why deny her of that? She will be able to help us."

"How? You said yourself that she specializes in noticing details in appearance and mannerisms. How can she help us when we don't know what Kira looks like or what he does?" I was starting to see him getting frustrated because I was defending Kari so much.

"I also said that she notices people's speech and actions. I have a feeling that you left that out on purpose. She could tell who the second Kira is by seeing the tapes and have an idea on who the first Kira is by their actions." I say as I absent-mindedly clink my spoon on the sides of the tea cup.

"Does she know about the chance of a second Kira?" Chief Yagami asks of me.

"No, not yet." I reply, picking up my cup, "I haven't been able to, because lately she wasn't paying that much attention to me while we talked. I think she was too busy with school."

As I started sipping from the cup, Chief Yagami asks another question, "So, you're saying she's a student?"

I set down the now empty cup as I look towards him, "Yes, she is. She's a senior in high school in the states. She's only a few months younger than you, Yagami-kun." I start refilling the cup to near the top.

"You sure seem confident, Ryuzaki." Yagami-kun says.

"Why do you say that?"

"You're giving all this information out to us on Kari. Aren't you afraid that one of us is Kira? Wasn't I your number one suspect?"

"Of course you are." I reply while dropping a few sugar cubes into my tea, "But all information, including federal information, about Kari is false. For her own protection of course." _Come on, some type of reaction._ I plead in my mind.

But I get nothing to prove that he was angered. "You never cease to amaze me, Ryuzaki. The measures you go to to protect your fellow detectives is astounding." _Exactly what college-student Yagami Light-kun would say._ I think as the familiar clinking noise echoes in the room.

Not long after, we all heard the click of a door opening and closing, and soft footsteps.

--Kari's POV--

I headed out of the bathroom and down the hallway, just after taking a quick shower. My hair was already dry, how I love short hair, and I wore pretty much the same thing. I still wore my jeans, but I changed my top to a plain black tank-top. I also went barefoot this time.

My feet made very little noise on the floor as I approached the living room area of the hotel room. As I entered, I noticed that everyone besides Ryuzaki tensed up. I smirked as I walked up to an empty chair that was on Ryuzaki's right side. I sat down with my back against the arm rest closest to Ryuzaki and the bottom half of my legs dangling off of the other arm rest, towards the windows.

"Ah, you were talking about me, weren't you?" My smirk turning into a smile. "What were you saying?" I turn more towards Ryuzaki, looking for an answer.

"It was mostly between Yagami-kun and I." Ryuzaki replies, "Anyway, Kari, what can you tell me about Yagami-kun?"

I knew he was just trying to change the subject, but I let him. I looked over to Light, getting rid of my smile and put on a more serious face, before I replied, "A perfectionist, but also very professional. But when you put those two things together, it really screams...death by 45."

Light's eyes widened for only a moment, but went back to a thoughtful facade. "What makes you say that I'm going to die by the time I'm 45?" Light asks.

"You're putting way too much stress on your mind and body. That ages you faster than you're supposed to. So, it's going to make you die at a relatively young age."

"Does that mean you will die young?" Ryuzaki asks me, "You do have OCD after all."

"A very slight, slight, case of OCD." I reply, "It's very slight, but yes I do. And I balance that out with insane friends that take my mind off of stuff like that."

"I have something that I want you to take a look at." Ryuzaki tells me as he stands up. I knew he was just trying to get out of the topic.

"Work. Whoopee-dee-doo." I say with sarcasm and boredom dripping from my lips as I push myself up from the oh-so comfortable chair. "Just give me a sec." I say as I walk over to Light, who was still sitting. I noticed him slightly tense up as I leaned forward. I took my pointer finger and gently moved away a few strands of hair out of eyes. "Sorry. It was bothering me." I tell him as I straightened back up. I walked over to where Ryuzaki was sitting and saw another chair and a TV. I sat down in the chair cross-legged and waited for Ryuzaki to start explaining.

"I want you to watch a few tapes from a person that's claiming to be Kira." he tells me, "I need you to listen and see if this Kira is the real one. And, you should know, you aren't allowed to write anything down."

"Yeah, yeah." I say absent-mindedly as I wave one hand in his general direction and got myself comfortable by resting my elbows on my knees and resting my chin in my hands.

"Watari." I hear Ryuzaki say as I stare at the black and blank TV screen. It then turns to a blinding white with "Kira" written in black Old English font.

"Well, obviously who ever this is isn't original." I say, referring to the screen that Ryuzaki and I used when talking to people through the computer. I didn't say anything else throughout the four different tapes, except for halfway through the second one where I couldn't take that multiple eyes burning into my back anymore.

"What did you find out?" Ryuzaki asks me, his eyes still burning through me, but I never yelled at him for it because I knew that he would just continue no matter what I said.

I leaned back in the chair and heard my back crack a little before answering, "This Kira and the Kira that's been killing criminals aren't the same people. Unless Kira is an oyster, which I highly doubt."

"Elaborate, please."

"Yeah. What does oysters have to do with the Kira case?" I hear a voice from behind me that sounds older than Light, but still younger than most of the people here.

"Oysters have the ability to change genders." I reply without looking at him. I then go back to Ryuzaki, "From what I've seen and heard, the first Kira is a guy. The person here who is claiming to be Kira, is a girl. No guy can get this obsessed over something, anything. Also, the first Kira seems to be looking for a challenge from you. Now, if you just appear on TV, that isn't much of a challenge now, is it?"

"True." Ryuzaki replies as he starts chewing on his thumb, a nasty habit he has had for as long as I've known him, "What do you propose we do?"

"I say you make a fake tape claiming to be the real Kira, come up with something to say, air it, and see what happens. Most likely, this second Kira will reply and I'll be able to tell you defiantly the gender and possibly the age."

"Exactly what I was thinking. I was planning on Light playing Kira."

"Sounds good to me."


	3. Brother, Mother, Children

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU RYUZAKI?! I'M NOT KIRA!!" Light-kun yelled.

"I never said you were Kira, Yagami-kun, I just said that you would be best to play Kira in the reply tape." Ryuzaki answered with an innocent look.

"Temper, temper." I tell Light-kun as I move my head to look at him, even if it was upside down, "What did I just tell you? You need to calm down or else you're going to die an early death. And you wouldn't want that, now would you?"

He just gave me a glare as I looked up at him with an innocent look that equaled Ryuzaki's.

I then unfolded my legs and stretched both my arms and legs in front of me. I stood up and heard my back crack a little before I started walking. "I'm going to bed. I'm tired." I announced to the men behind me.

"Sweet dreams." was the only thing I heard from behind me and I knew that Ryuzaki was the only one that would say that. I waved my hand as I yawned and opened the door to my new room. It was very simple with a double sized bed, a couple of night stands on either side of the bed, a closet, a dresser, a desk my own laptop on it, and a TV.

I walked over my bed slowly and fell down, belly side up, on to it. I rested my head on my hands and said to myself, "That is the first time someone's really hated me." Then I thought for a second, "Wait, no, those preppy girls don't count." After a few moments in silence, I spoke again, "What's going on in that head of yours, Yagami Light." It confused me. Mainly because most of the time, when I first meet a person, I can read them pretty easily. I can tell about how old they are, their intelligence, even what their plans are. Well, I could tell that from just looking at Light-kun, but there was something about him...Something that I just couldn't understand. And not understanding something makes me scared. I am one of those people that has to know everything. My therapist said that that was one of my symptoms for OCD, that I couldn't handle not knowing something.

"I thought you said that you were going to sleep." I hear a very familiar voice call out from the door.

I look over and see L standing in my doorway. "Don't you knock?" I ask him as I sit up on my bed.

He started walking over to the bed and sat down on it in his usual style, "I thought that we were at the point where we didn't have to do that."

"It's called common courtesy."

"You still haven't said why you're still awake."

"I'm confused."

"By what?"

"Light. I can read him, like everyone else. But it's like part of his book is in Linear A."

"You can't understand it?" he asked as he placed a thumb in his mouth.

"Exactly. And it's confusing me and bothering me. I can't stand it!" I exclaim as my back and head hit the bed once again. I let out a frustrated sigh as I closed my eyes, but not before seeing L look at me with a look of almost concern. "Can I stop calling you Ryuzaki now?"

"Yes, everyone's gone."

"Good." I opened my eyes once more to look at him. "I missed you a lot, L."

"I missed you too. But I remember telling you that you should stay in America and leave this to me."

"I know. But I missed you so much and you were sounding like you were having trouble with this one, so I decided to help."

"You do know what might happen during this case, right?"

"Yeah, of course I do. But it's not going to happen. I know you won't. And even if you do, I'm going to kill him myself."

"No. If I die, then you leave. I won't let Kira kill you."

I turn over, so that my back is facing him. "But I wouldn't want to, you should know that by now. I'm going to want payback, and I'm going to get it if anything happened to you. I don't know what I'll be able to do without my brother to help me with things."

"If you stay here, then there will be a very large chance that Kira will kill you too. If that happened, what will they do without their mother?"

"I'm not their mother." I reply as I turn around to face him again, with a worried look in my eyes, "And besides, there's still the problem if you died. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. I mean, if you weren't there twelve years ago, I don't know where I would've been. Probably dead. So, I really can't see a life without you, L."

He looked away from me for a few moments before getting up and walking to the door. The only thing that he said, as he was walking into the hallway and right before closing my bedroom door, was, "Goodnight K."

"Goodnight L." I tried to reply back, but the door was shut before I could even get out the first syllable.

I stood up and changed into my pajamas. I looked over to the clock and saw that it was nearly one in the morning. "Wow, I'm tired early." I said to myself as I slipped in between the covers. It's true. I was a naturally nocturnal person and would stay awake till about two or three in the morning before even considering going to sleep. Never the less, I laid my head on the pillow and placed the right ear bud of my other pair of headphones in my ear and turned on my i-pod that was charging at the same time. After a few minutes of listening to the quiet music, it finally lulled me to sleep.

When I woke up, I could tell that it was very bright outside. My first hint was the very bright light that was coming through the window and onto my face.

"UGH!!" I grunt as I pull the blankets over my head to cut off the light, "Away damn light!"

Linear A was the first sophisticated form of writing from the island of Crete.


	4. Unnecessary

"You do know that it's noon, right?" a voice from behind asked.

Now that I was more awake, I did notice that there was a weight behind my ball-like state. I uncurled myself and turned around, still under the covers, to see that the male next to me was just lying on top of the covers and blankets that adorned my temporary bed.

"As a matter of face, no I didn't. And in case you forgot, but I was on a plane for a really long time, so my internal clock is all screwed up." I replied.

"I guessed that." the familiar person tells me, "Everyone left for lunch, you want something?" he asks while pulling the cover off of my head.

"I could've sworn that I closed those curtains." I said more to myself, as I looked away from my bedmate.

"I opened them a couple of minutes ago, trying to get you up. I guess it worked."

I then looked to the man that was lying down in my bed and saw that he wasn't even looking at me, but at the ceiling. He had a far away look in his eyes, like he was trying to figure something out.

"Is there something wrong?" I ask out of curiosity.

"Nothing really." he replies while turning his head to face me, "Just thinking about things."

"Let me guess. Kira."

"Partly, but I'm also trying to come up with a way to send you back to the States."

I smacked his arm with little effort, but I guessed that he got the point. "You're so mean. I want to help you." I whine, "Why won't you let me?"

L suddenly sits up in his own way and looks away from me. "Because it's best for you." he replies simply, "You still haven't answered my question."

"I don't know." I sighed, pulling the cover back up to hide myself from the world.

It was then that I noticed that my headphones were missing. "Hey, where are my headphones?" I ask him as I push back the covers and start looking around.

"They came out in your sleep." he replies simply, looking my way like it was obvious, "You rolled and they came out."

"How do you know that?"

"75 of the time, you headphones come out in your sleep. 90 of that time, it's because you roll around."

"What's the other 10 of the time?"

"Somebody pulls them out to get you to wake up."

"That's mean." I say was I spot the mini speakers on the floor next to my bed, detached for the i-pod.

"It's one of the very few ways that will wake you up. We only use it as a last resort."

"That's nice to know." I tell him as I sit up and start stretching, "Now leave so that I can get changed."

He got off the bed and started walking over to the door. He stopped in the doorway and turned around. "Do you want me to tell Watari to fix the usual?"

"Please?" I ask as I stretch my arms and legs in front of me as I look over to him.

He simply nodded his head and walked out the door, closing it once he was completely in the little hallway. Once the door was closed tightly, I fell down into the fluffy pillow behind me. I sighed lightly as I rolled onto my side and looked to the door where one of my best friends just walked through.

"You really are mean, L." I whisper more to myself. I then roll back onto my back and threw the multiple covers away from my body. I instantly regretted it as I felt the shivering air touch the skin that my pj's were unable to cover. I quickly headed over to my suitcase because I was not able to unpack, and grabbed a pair of red sweat pants and a white tank top.

I walked out of my room, but not before grabbing a book and my i-pod, and down the hall way and into the living area to see L looking through his laptop. I sit down in the chair next to him with my legs draped over one of the arms and my back leaning against the opposite one. My back was towards L, so I had to bend my head back in order to see him. All he was doing was looking through his different files and typing up information that he didn't have before.

"Whacha doing?" I ask him, trying to get a good look at what he was looking at. The only problem was that my neck didn't bend back far enough, so I had to turn over onto my stomach to look.

"I'm working on the Kira case." He replied like it was obvious. OK, it was, but that's not the point.

I leaned over him to see the screen, but he just pushed me away. "Hey!" I exclaimed, "Let me see!"

"In a moment. I'm almost done." He replied.

Just then Watari-san walked in and handed me a plate with a sandwich and some chips on it. "Thank you, Watari-san." I say in an almost sing-song voice as I smiled up at him. He simply nodded his head with a smile. I had always noticed that he didn't talk all that much, and only when it was necessary.

I then sat back in my original position after placing the plate of food on the table in front of the chair, and took out my i-pod and head phones. I started listening to the music as I took my book and opened it to where I had dog-eared it on the flight over here. Every once in a while, I took a chip or the sandwich and took a bite to help satisfy my hunger.

"What are you reading?" I heard L say. My i-pod wasn't turned up much so that I could still hear anything that anyone said.

I looked over to him and showed him the cover of the book, with a finger where I had stopped. "The Catcher in the Rye." I replied, "I need to read it for English, we're studying existentialism."

He just nodded his head in understanding and went back to his laptop as I went back to my book. This is what I didn't like about talking with L. There really wasn't much to talk about. I will say that I am the person that he will talk most with, but he still doesn't say much. It gets a little annoying because I'm a very talkative person and I like it when people talk to me. I have learned that no matter how much I try, I can't strike up a conversation with L unless it's about the case he's working on, and only if you're working with him. If you're not, then you're out of luck. I have tried to get him to talk more, but it's pulling teeth. It's painful for him because he doesn't interact with people like the rest of us do.

After a couple of hours of silence, L spoke up, "Do you really want to work on this case?" It sounded like he really wanted me to say no and that I wanted to go back home and have nothing to do with this. Looks like I'm disappointing him once more.

"Yes, I really do. I think I can really help you with this. Isn't that what you told them?" I replied, taking out my headphones after turning off my music.

He let out a sigh and hung his head back before answering, "Yes, I did say that you would be helpful, but we can do this without you. I don't want to bring in unnecessary people."

"So I'm unnecessary?" That was a hit for me. I hated being told that I wasn't needed. "So, I would help, but I'm not needed? Don't you think you should get as much help as you can? You said yourself that this case is probably going to be one of your hardest since the BB cases. I mean, you even asked for assistance from the Japanese police. You even showed your face to these people. You're desperate L."

I got up with a grunt and left my things in the chair or on the table. I stomped down to my room where I changed into a pair of jeans; a dark blue, long-sleeved top; a black, leather jacket, where I tied the strap around my waist; and a pair of tennis shoes. Before leaving my room, I grabbed my purse with my cell phone, ID, and some money in it.

I walked by L on my way to the door and heard him ask, "Where are you going?"

"Out." I replied simply, "I'm going to check out the shops and stuff." I grabbed the clear umbrella with little flowers on it as I walked through the door. I didn't hear anything else from him before I closed the door with a slam. Maybe he did say something and I just didn't hear it, but it was a greater chance that he didn't say anything at all.

I grabbed my umbrella because it had started raining when I was reading and it was still. It was still raining too, but I didn't mind. I liked the rain actually, it felt very cleansing and that's exactly what I needed after the little feud between L and myself.

I did start looking at the different places that weren't far from the hotel, so I wasn't lying when I told him that I was looking around. I was definitely remembering the music stores that I saw along my way. There were a lot of clothing stores and electronic stores around, so there were plenty of places to shop. I wasn't much of a clothing shopping girl, but if I got into a music store, I could stay there forever just looking at the artists and albums. It was almost as bad as L and his sweets; you couldn't keep me away from my CD's and i-pod for long.

After an hour or so of walking, I saw two people heading my way, and one of them looked very familiar. Once I got closer, I noticed that I was Light-kun and some girl that was shorter than him and with yellow blonde hair. It seemed that he noticed me too, because he looked at me and had a smile on his face.


	5. Babbling

I didn't want to seem too obvious and embarrass him in front of what looked to be his girlfriend, so I waited him for to make the first move. The move was a simple wave that I returned, with a little more enthusiasm. The girl next to him, who seemed like she was younger than Light-kun, finally noticed me and gave a sour face while clutching tightly to Light-kun's arm. Aw, how cute, she was possessive.

"Hey, Light-kun." I said as I got closer to him, so that the rain didn't drown out my voice too much. I placed a smile on my face, which wasn't very difficult because his little girlfriend still had on a sour face; I guess she was mad that I was talking to Light-kun so casually, "What's going on?"

"Hi, Kari." He replies as all three of us stop, "Not much, just going out to lunch with my girlfriend, …"

"Misa Amane." I finish for him, "How could I not know who this is? I'm a big fan of yours." I say as I lean my umbrella on one of my shoulders and take one of her hands in to both of mine. "I might be from the States, but I love to watch a lot of Japanese shows. It's too bad I don't have your CD. Then I could get your autograph."

She lightened up considerable and was glowing from her very large smile. "Wow! It's so nice to see a fan from across the ocean. I didn't know I was that popular!" she says to me as she brings her other hand up to grab mine, "How about next time we meet, you bring the CD and I'll be happy to sign it for you?"

"Really?! That would be amazing." To be honest, I hated her. Her voice was annoying, her personality was suffocating, and she was just horrible all over. It was just an act so that she wouldn't be so tense around me. When I shoot a look at Light-kun, I saw something that surprised me, but I decided to ignore it for now.

Light-kun quickly came into the conversation, which I was very thankful for, with a question of his own, "What are you doing here, Kari? Shouldn't you be asleep? I'm sure the jet-lag is killing you."

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm pretty used to the jet-lag; I like to travel whenever I can." I reply simply, "And I'm just looking around. I haven't been to Japan yet, so I decided to just see what's going on and if there're any good shops." Even though it was only a half lie, I still felt like I had to watch my breathing and heart rate so that it didn't look like I was lying.

He just nodded his head a couple of times, seeming to understand my little half-lie.

"How about we get out of the rain?" Misa speaks up, with the sour face again, but not at me, "I don't want to get all wet out here, and I want a rest."

As we all head to a place that both of them say is very nice and have been to often, I've noticed that Light-kun preferred to keep his distance away from Misa. Couldn't say that I blamed him, she was like caffeine, too much and you go insane. But then, why did he choose her to be his girlfriend. From what I could see, Light-kun was a perfect man for any woman. From the way she was acting around him, she looked up to him like a god. It was like complete opposites, almost like their personalities. Well, they do say opposites attract, not exactly sure who "they" are though.

We got a table in the back and Light-kun and I had just ordered some coffee, while Misa went all out and ordered an ice cream sundae. I wasn't really in the mood for sweets; otherwise I would've ordered the same thing. It was also the fact that I didn't have a lot of money with me at the moment, which really sucked, I hated being out of money. It made me wonder why I didn't grab more as I was heading out. I'm sure Watari-san would have given me some if I asked. Oh well, too late now. I did have enough to pay for my coffee though, which meant that I didn't have to be completely rude and ask one of them to pay for me. Now, that would've been embarrassing.

Once we got all of our food/drinks, we really started talking. It wasn't really talking though, it was more like Misa babbling and Light-kun and I half listening. As she was talking, I took my black coffee and started adding packet after packet of the creamer/milk that they had with just one little packet of the sugar. It was L that had the gigantic sweet tooth.

It seemed that Light-kun was used to Misa talking so much because he was able to answer correctly to all the questions even though it was most likely that he didn't even hear them. I, on the other hand, was somewhat slow to her questions, and had asked her to repeat them in the first few minutes of our/her conversation. After that, it was pretty easy to guess what she had asked based on her body position and facial expressions.

After we finished up our beverages/ice cream, Light-kun decided to say goodbye to his peppy girlfriend. She didn't look too happy about it since it was obvious that Light-kun was going to be walking with me. I could tell from the beginning that she had a very controlling and protective attitude towards things that she believed she owned. But after he gave her a quick peck on her cheek, and I could see her swoon from it, she laid off and said goodbye to her very calm boyfriend. Light-kun also let her borrow his umbrella because it was still raining outside, being the gentleman that he so obviously was.

On our way back, with Light-kun holding my large umbrella over us, I couldn't help but think about the weather and how my feelings were the exact same.

I look over to him as we kept walking, and asked, "Light-kun, do you know about pathetic fallacy?"

"You mean like when the weather matches a person's feelings in a play or movie?" he asks. I simply nod my head. "Of course, what about it?" he questions.

"I'm starting to believe that it's true."

He chuckles lightly, "Why? Are you feeling down?"

"Yes." I reply.

"Is it something Misa or I did?" he asks, sounding concerned.

"No, no." I say while shaking my head, "It was Ryuzaki. He said something before I left to look around. Something that offended me, something he knows offends me, something he has known offends me. And I guess I'm just depressed about that."

"What did he say?"

"He said that I, and I quote, 'was unnecessary'. And I don't know about you, but if you say that to me, I get hurt and insulted. It's like he doesn't trust me to be here."

"Well, you know Ryuzaki-san; he doesn't know how to talk to people. Maybe he didn't really mean it."

"He knows how to talk to me. He knows what blows me up. And from the way he sounded, he meant it." I was starting to huff now, and I could tell that Light-kun was getting a little bit uncomfortable around me getting worked up, "I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't be telling you this."

I sighed lightly as my head leaned down and I placed my hand over my eyes. I don't know about Light-kun, but all I could hear was the rain. The rain pounding on my umbrella, on the sidewalk, the buildings. But I couldn't make out any talking or anything other than the rain. I guess it was trying to calm me. The rain has always had that affect on me. No matter what situation I was in, it would always comfort me in a way that no human could. Even on that day, when I was taken there, the first night it was raining, and it seemed to lull me to a sound sleep, even though that day was the toughest of my life.

I decided to break the silence by asking Light-kun a question that was plaguing my mind since we met on the street, "What's up with you and Misa?"

"What do you mean?" he asks, very confused. If I could see his face, I bet it just screamed shock and puzzlement.

"I mean, look at your personalities. You are very quiet, but a pronounced quiet. You demand attention when you enter a room, even without saying anything. But her, she just talks…and talks…and talks. And even though that's all she seems to do, it's like she doesn't have any presence, like she's just a voice in your head that won't shut up. And I'm sorry if I'm being offensive, I'm just telling the truth."

He chuckled for a minute, I guess trying to find the right thing to say. I guess what I said wasn't that offensive if he was laughing about it. "To be honest," he replies, "I don't know myself why we love each other so much. I guess she's very helpful for me, teaching me how to talk more. Like you said, I'm very quiet."

"Her way of teaching isn't very helpful though. If she just talks continuously, then where are you supposed to come in? Hanging around someone that does nothing but talk, is not the way to learn how to talk more. Besides, you don't even need that. You know when to talk and you know when to shut up. In my book, that's good enough."

He laughed a little more, "I believe you're the same way. Though you're not very silent."

"I guess I do talk a little more than I should." I say as I chuckle a little bit.

Before I knew it, we were at the entrance to the hotel. Light-kun was still holding my umbrella as we walked into the elevator and also pressed the button.

"What are you going to do when you see Ryuzaki-san?" He asks, "You still sound a little mad at him."

"I'm going to do what I always do when I'm mad at him." I answer simply. He seemed to accept my answer, but I could tell that he wanted to question what it was.

Once we walked into the hallway, Light-kun asked me where the umbrella should go, but I took it out of his hands saying that I'll take care of it. I knocked on the door and just a few moments later, Watari-san answered. I said a quick hello to him while dropping the umbrella off in the little area where I picked it up from. I noticed that L was still sitting in the same chair he was in before I left, but there were a few papers in front of him that I didn't see before. I also saw something else in front of him on the table: The book I was reading earlier. I would need that if I was going to ignore him. That's right! I was giving him the cold, hard, silent treatment. I felt he deserved it for what he said earlier.

As I was walking up to him to grab my book, I saw him picking up the papers and looked towards me. I, of course, didn't make eye contact with him.

"Katie," he said, using my work name, "I need you to read this over. I was planning on using this for the reply to the second Kira."

As I walked passed him, I quickly grabbed the papers in his hand before picking up my book. Yes, I was mad at him, but work was work. I wanted to catch this person and Kira as much as he did. After doing that, I turned around and headed back to my room where I put on my headphones while turning on my music, and slumped onto my bed. I looked over to my clock before I got into the paper L had handed me, and saw that it was only three o'clock.

This was going to be a long day.

YES!! I'm finally over 2,000 words for this story. My last one was only about 1,800. I have been trying to make my stories longer; I promise that the next one will be. Thanks for reading, and please review, I love them!


	6. 120

This book made no sense whatsoever. It was confusing the hell out of me. All it was about was a kid that got kicked out of a lot of private schools and was ditching another one. He cursed a lot too, well cursing for the 1950's. That's right; I was now reading The Catcher in the Rye. I had already finished reading and revising the speech that L had made, and I was looking for a chance to get it back out there without him noticing me. I highly doubt that that time will ever come. So, here I wait and it's only 6:30 p.m.

I look up from my book and start looking around my room, wonder what I was going to do. I could always watch TV, but there was probably nothing good on. All the good shows were only on in America, trust me, I checked. I could always go to sleep, but then I might miss the once in a lifetime chance that I could return the papers without L noticing me. So, that one was out. I could return to my book, but it was starting to get so boring, that I might fall asleep and miss the once in a lifetime chance. Again, out.

I sighed as I looked blankly up at the ceiling. It was the same color as the rest of the room, and very smooth. Which was kinda funny because when you thought of ceilings, you thought of finding shapes and such in it. It was now that I started to feel guilty about what I did to L. He was already pretty much a social outcast as it is, and my shunning him was probably only making it worse. I knew he wasn't much for people and I was one of the very few people he would talk to without the use of two computers, but he really shouldn't have said what he did.

I sat up as slow as I could, so that I wouldn't end up getting a headache, and stood up. I slid my glasses off of my face and started cleaning them to get rid of dust. I ended up taking off my contacts because they were getting itchy. I got my glasses on when I heard a door closing to another room not too far from my own. A grin appeared on my face as I thought that this was the chance. I grabbed the script from my bedside table and walked over to the door. I gently pushed it open, silently praying that it didn't squeak, which it didn't, and tiptoed my way to the living room. I heard multiple people talking, but none of them were L. I began to walk normally across the hardwood floor, which was cold against my bare feet, and strode into the living room.

I was right. L was nowhere in sight and this was my chance. I walked up to one of the chairs, that I knew had Light-kun in it because I could see his hair, and I noticed that no one seemed to notice me. I stopped when I got right behind his chair and took the papers into both of my hands. I then started lowering the papers in front on Light-kun's face, until he noticed them and then took them into his own hands. It was then that everyone noticed me and I just looked at them with a smile.

As Light-kun flicked through the script that I revised, he stated, "Thank you, Katie. This will help us a lot."

"No problem." I said, my smile slightly bigger, "And next time, just come to me to write it. It'll save time, and I'm sure that you guys will have other stuff to do."

"You think we're going to have to do this again?" Yagami-san asks.

"Maybe. It's just a theory, so I'm not 100 percent sure." I reply, my facial features becoming more thoughtful.

"Katie," Light-kun starts, "are you still avoiding Ryuzaki?"

"What gave you that idea?" I ask him back.

"I don't think it would have taken you three and a half hours to look this over."

"What if I forgot about it? I'm human, and people forget things often."

He obviously didn't believe my excuse, but just looked back to the script. As he looked through it, many of the others started talking again, and most of it was about the Kira case, so I decided to just look around the room and look at the people in it. It was then that I spotted something on the table that I didn't expect to be there.

"Is that my cell phone?" I question to no one in particular. I walk over to the table and pick up the phone. "It is my cell phone!" I exclaim as I open it up, "What's it doing out here?"

Apparently, no one had a clear answer because no one answered and everyone had a confused look on their faces.

Finally someone spoke up, but it wasn't as a confession, "That's yours? Ryuzaki said that it was his." I had learned that the one that spoke was Matsuda.

"He said that?" I asked everyone, and everyone had the same look of agreement before they all replied with 'yeah's, 'hmm mm's, and nods. Now I was angry. "ARGH!" I exclaimed as I started walking out. But then I stopped and looked over at the boys, "Did anyone call this?"

"Only people that had to do with the case." Light-kun answered.

I simply turned around and stomped out towards my room, not worrying if L saw me, or heard me.

As I continued stomping down the hallway and whispering profanities under my breath, a door opened slightly and L came out through a tiny space before shutting it fast. It seems that that door is off-limits.

He saw me and started talking, "Katie, glad I saw you. Do you happen to be…"

He didn't get to finish because of the fact that I just shoved my cell phone in his face.

"Yes, that's you phone." He says, slightly confused, "Is there something wrong with it?"

I just huff once more and bring my phone back down to my side. I clinch the phone so tight in my hand, that I loosened it because I'm afraid that it might break if I squeeze it even a little more. I turn on my heal and start walking into my room once more, but my mood even worse than it has been.

Once I lied down on my bed, phone still in hand, I heard a song that wasn't playing on my i-pod player. I picked my phone up to my face and realized that the song "Love Today" by Mika was coming from that small device. Instantly, my mood was picked up and I had a large grin on my lips.

"KATIE!!" I exclaim as I open my phone and press it against my head.

"NO! You whore! I was listening to that!" My smile only got bigger as she kept on talking, "Just kidding. But I really was listening to that. You could've waited to answer for five minutes."

"No I couldn't have." I replied, "It would've gone to voice mail after I think one minute."

"I don't care. I just would've called back."

Katie was one of my dear friends back in America. She's a year younger than me and very energetic; so much that it's sometimes hard for even me to keep up with her. We've known each other for about three years, but it's almost like we've known each other forever by how we act around each other.

"Mom, big brother was being mean to me again." I say with a pouty face, almost as if she could see it. In our group of girlfriends, we've created a family. Katie was my mom (but also my wife, but that's not important).

"Ohh, really? What did he do this time?"

"He said something really mean to me." Katie knew about L, but all of my friends knew him as Logan, not L or Ryuzaki.

"What did he say exactly?"

"What he said isn't important…"

"It's how he said it."

"No, not that. But what he said really hurt my feelings, and he knows what hurts my feelings, so I think that he did it on purpose." Ok, that was a lie. I knew that he didn't mean it the way he said it, L was just a very blunt person; he didn't know how to beat around the bush.

"Where is he now?" her voice becoming defensive, "I'll go to him and start yelling at him. All you have to do is tell me where he is."

I couldn't help but laugh at how serious she sounded. My group of friends were always so much fun, but if someone was feeling down, they would find a way to fix it. The problem was that Katie's way of fixing something normal dealt with either yelling at whatever caused the problem or hitting it. "I don't think that that's necessary, Katie. I'm already dealing with it, so he should apologize soon, I hope." I say to her, but the last two words were said in a whisper so I doubt she heard them.

"Ok, if you say so." She sounded slightly disappointed. I think she wanted to come over to see me more than she wanted to yell at L for putting me in a bad mood.

"Thanks for the call anyway." I tell her, "You really lightened me up. Before you called, I was really mad at him, but I think I'm better now. Thanks to you of course."

"Of course, you love me. I wish I could see you though. It's really bad in history without you. Mrs. Murphy misses you a lot too. Apparently, you were one of her favorite students, and now you're gone for a while. I swear, this class is almost as bad as my chemistry class, with everyone talking. I'm surprised Mrs. Murphy hasn't gone insane."

"Don't worry. I'll be back before seniors leave, so I will see you soon."

"Yeah, that's right. You have to be back here for graduation. Are you sure you're graduating?"

"I better be. I think the only class I have to worry about is English. I have a D in it I think. But it's going up, so I don't think I have too much to worry about."

"When do you think you'll be back?"

"I was thinking about a month from now. I get out of school on May 28th, so I was thinking of coming back on the 12th."

"NO! That's too far away! Come back next week."

"I can't do that, Katie. Trust me, I want to, but I'm just really busy here, so I think the longest I stay here, the better. Besides, I'm planning on staying the summer too. So, I can relax."

"Really? I thought that you would head straight back after graduation."

"I was thinking about that also, but I decided that I will need some time to myself. Besides, I don't think that Logan will need me here for long."

"Just tell me where you are now, Kari, and I'll come over."

I chuckle at her enthusiasm, I truly love my friends, "I don't think that's the right thing to do. You will probably get into trouble."

She sighs before she says, "Ok, fine, I won't do anything. But I'll be expecting you at school on May 12th, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear Katie. I'll see you then." We hung up and I set my phone on my bedside table. I stood up and stretched out my arms while I started walking towards the door. I felt ready to face L once more.

I opened the door before me and closed it as soon as I got into the hallway. It was abnormally quiet, so the first thought in my mind was that everyone has left. And my suspicion was confirmed when I walked into the living room area. The only one in there was L, and he was busy eating strawberry shortcake. When I walked past him to sit in my normal chair right beside him, he noticed me, but didn't say a word. So he knew I was angry with him and he didn't want me to become more enraged with him.

I saw Watari-san walk out of the kitchen and up behind my chair. I turned around to look at him as he spoke, "Would you like something to eat, Kari? I suppose it's been a while since you've had something." He always sounded so concerned with me. I don't really blame him though.

"No, I think I'm fine for now." I reply after thinking about it for a while.

"You really should eat something." L finally said. It was bold of him to talk to me.

I thought about it for a few more seconds, and realized that he was right. "On second thought, could I have an apple, please?"

Watari-san simply nodded his head before disappearing.

"You know full well that a sandwich isn't enough for an entire day." L spoke up.

"I do. But you know, old habits die hard." I reply, before looking at him, "You're not really one to talk yourself. All you eat are sweets."

He looked at me with a somewhat confused but excited expression before asking, "Does this mean that you're not mad at me anymore?"

"No, I'm still mad at you, just not as much as I was before."

"Good, I don't want our relationship to delay the conclusion of this case." Exactly what L would say, but I knew the real meaning behind it, "I'm glad that you don't hate me anymore."

After Watari-san passed me my apple, we sat in silence where the only sound seemed to be the _crunch_ I was making when biting into my apple. When I was all done, L was still eating some shortcake, which I think this was his third since I came in, I stood up and started walking out of the living area.

"I'm going to take a shower." I announce.

He just nods in recognition as I walk down the hallway.

When I exited the shower, and securely wrapped a towel around me, I looked at something in the bathroom with dread: the scale. I wasn't the girl that thought that she was too fat, I was the girl that knew she was too thin, well, I used to be. I was scared that I had a relapse lately and that all my hard work and all the support I've gotten from everyone would've been for nothing.

I strode over to the digital scale and stepped up on it. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, but then looked down at the LCD numbers. I felt a smile come upon my lips. It was then that I heard a knock on the bathroom door. There were only two bathrooms in the suite: One in the master bedroom, and one in the hallway. I was in the one in the hall.

I quickly made sure that my towel was wrapped tightly before answering with a, "Come in."

The door opened and there stood L with his back slouched and hands in his pockets. He quickly spotted the scale under my feet and gained a look of concern, and looked up at my face.

"120." I said simply. I didn't want to over complicate it for him.

"Pounds?"

"Yep."

He walked into the room as he looked up at the ceiling like he was thinking of something, "And you're five foot five inches at 120 lbs. That would make your BMI(1) at…20 exactly."

"And the ideal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9. It's kinda scary that I know that. But I'm almost in the middle of that."

"Congratulations, Kari. And I mean it."

"Thanks L, it means a lot."

He wrapped his arms loosely around my waist as I ruffled his hair a little as I stepped off of the scale.

"I need you to leave L." I tell him abruptly. He looked shocked by my words, but I quickly said, "I need to change."

"Of course." He replies, "I'll see you in a little while." He walks out of the room and closes the door behind him as I smile at his back.

(1)BMI-A measure of someone's weight in relation to their height. Basically, it will tell you if you are at the right weight for your height.


	7. Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

When I woke up the next morning, it was still as dark as night outside, so I looked over to the glowing clock right beside me. The green lights told me that it was only a few minutes after four in the morning, which meant that I have only been sleeping for the last two hours. I knew that that wasn't good for my system, but I guess that I picked it up from L.

Speaking of which, I felt a familiar weight on the opposite side of the bed I was laying on. I always had a tendency to roll onto just one side of the bed. It might be the fact that I lived on a twin bed for the majority of my seventeen years of life.

The sheets rustled silently over me as I turned my body over to face the foreign object in my bed. I saw a messy bunch of hair that I would know anywhere, no matter how large a crowd we might be in. A light smile came upon my lips as I closed my eyes. Before long, a deep yawn opened my mouth and I covered my stretched out mouth with one of my hands. When I looked over at the young man in my bed, I noticed something different about him: His eyes were closed. My smile became larger when I saw this and thought to myself, _This is probably the first time he's slept since this case started._ A light chuckle left me when the next song started on my i-pod.

Sweet dreams are made of this  
Who am I to disagree?  
I travel the world  
And the seven seas--  
Everybody's looking for something.  
Some of them want to use you  
Some of them want to get used by you  
Some of them want to abuse you  
Some of them want to be abused.

The repetitive lyrics calmed me down so that my eye lids fell once more and I started lip syncing to the song. Yes, I knew that many people had redone this song, including Marilyn Manson, but none were as good as the original by The Eurythmics, which is the version I had on my playlist. I brought my hand up and started absentmindedly stroking L's hair and combing my fingers through it after I turned over onto my back.

Before I closed my eyes, I noticed that he was facing me and sleeping on his side. He had his legs slightly tucked up to his chest, but not as much as when he was sitting, just so his knees were bent, and his right thumb was near his mouth. This was the way he always looked when I saw him sleep. He looked like a little kid, curling up to his favorite toy or blanket, and just about to suck on his thumb. A louder chuckle came from my throat as the image of L as a little kid and sucking on his thumb while holding a blanket came to my mind. I had to hold my left hand over my mouth to quite the noise while my right continued going through his messy and tangled black hair. He didn't get enough sleep as it was, I didn't want to deprive him of what little sleep he was getting. Even if it was in my bed.

--

Hi there all peoples that read this story! I just want to thank you for reading this really short chapter to IHA and to say that I'm really sorry for such a pathetic chapter. I work mainly on the spot. Most of what I've written was spontaneous and the only things I have planned out are the main plot and most of the character relationships. I have had NO inspiration for this story, so I need to start watching Death Note again and continue reading it.

I would also like to clarify some things that are going on in the story.

First of all, I would like to explain time. I have added an extra day that doesn't exist, which I'm sorry about; I didn't look at the timeline before writing this. It will be better from now on. Also, the year is different. Imagine everything four years later, including birthdays and death days. So, instead of the current year being 2004, it will be 2008, as well as Light's birth year being 1990 instead of 1986 (By the way, I'm getting my info from Death Note 13: How to Read, which I totally recommend. Character profiles, timeline, character designs, and even all the rules to the Death Note. It is a Death Note lovers dream!). The four year time leap is mainly for cultural references.

I also have something else to talk to you about. Even though I have had no inspiration for this story, I've had plenty for the sequel, which I have already started writing. I have finished the prologue and the first chapter to it and neither really gives any clues that would ruin anything in IHA. My question is: Do you want to read them? Like I said, there are no spoilers.

Let me tell you a general summery of Here I Am:

HIA is the sequel to IHA, but it's more of a prequel. It is the story of how L and K met.

There. That's all I'm giving you. There will be a poll on my profile giving you three choices:

A. I don't want to see it at all

B. I just want to see the prologue

C. I want to see both the prologue and first chapter

Thanks and I will be waiting!


	8. Google It

AN: Thank you all for waiting, and as I promised, here is a new chapter! I worked on it very hard (mainly because I had nothing to do except play games and work on this) and I really hope that you like it! Thanks for reading!

--

I must have fallen back asleep, because the next thing that happened was the muted light coming through my eye lids. I heard faint music as I rubbed my eyes. I permitted a yawn to come out as I sat up in bed, with my eyes still shut tightly. When I did open them I quickly turned off my i-pod, which then turned off the song. After a few seconds of stretching my arms and legs, I heard a knock at my door. It was always sort of strange. I constantly wake up on my own before something else can wake me. I seem to wake up before my alarm clocks, seconds before I would fall off my bed, before anyone tried to shake me awake, or, like now, before someone would come knocking on my door. It would frequently annoy the kids because they always wanted to scare me awake.

I hesitantly got off my bed and walked over to the door. When I opened it, I saw a familiar and friendly face in the hallway. "Good morning, Katie. Everyone is waiting for you in the living room." Watari told me with a smile. I was so tired that I wasn't able to answer him, but I was able to follow him out of my bedroom, into the hallway, and eventually into the living room.

I looked into the room and saw all the men from earlier, all in sharp looking suits. "Man, don't I feel underdressed." I said as I remembered my attire. I was wearing a blue striped pajama set that had short sleeves and very long pants. So long, that it was pretty common to see me trip on them. I just shrugged as I fell down onto the chair next to L that was open, sitting in my normal position with my head facing L.

I looked over to the clock in the room and saw that it was almost ten in the morning. I couldn't believe that I slept in that much. Normally, I would only sleep until around eight. I must've still been pretty tired from the jet lag.

"Any particular reason as to why you're still wearing your pajamas, Katie?" L asked me, his thumb in his mouth. Why did he ask me? He should know, of all people.

"I was just asleep." I told him, with much murderous intent in my voice as I could hold, "And, besides, they're comfy. I could ask you the same thing about your outfit. But I'm not. Because I'm still tired." I snuggled back into what I thought was a recliner, and almost tried to go back to sleep. But then a thought came to mind. Something that would get me up. "Too bad there isn't any stairs in this place." I thought out loud. Now that I think about it, thinking out loud in a room full of policemen isn't a very good idea.

"Why?" Why is it always this Matsuda guy that speaks up first?

"Because then there would be an event that would both entertain you guys and wake me up at the same time." I explained.

"And what is this event?" Light said almost smugly, it seemed he didn't believe me.

"Have you ever seen…someone…trip going up the stairs?" I paused for effect, "I highly doubt it. You see, if we were at my house, you'd see it every night, and a few mornings. Depends. But that's all the way in the States. And that would be very illogical considering the Kira case is all the way here in Japan. Why do you think Ryuzaki is here and not back at his house in…" I heard someone clear their throat, but I quickly recovered, "…Sacajaymo?"

"Sacajaymo?" Light echoed. Obviously, he didn't believe me. I would've been surprised if anyone in the room did.

"Yeah, Sacajaymo. It's a real city. Google it." I said as I air typed, "It's a secluded city in Africa. It's so secluded that the only people that live there are Ryuzaki and Watari, and sometimes me. Depends. Actually, don't Google it. It's so secluded that it's probably not on the internet." When I finished, I could tell that everyone in that room, except for L, thought I was crazy. I stood up from my seat and started walking away. "It's cold in here. I'm getting something warm." I announced as I left.

"I'll come with you." I heard L say as he got off his chair. He caught up to me in the hallway and whispered teasingly, "Sacajaymo? Now, how do you spell that?"

"Shut up. I'm still half asleep." I told him in an aggressive tone, "And just so you know, it's: S-A-C-A-J-A-Y?-M-O."

I walked into my room, while L stayed outside. He must've thought that I was changing, because when I left the door open, he began to close it. "Wait." I told him, "Don't close it." He was confused to say the least, but kept the door open as he watched me. I ripped the comforter off of the bed and slipped my feet into my black slippers with yellow smiley faces on them. I walked out to L and told him, "It's still too early to wear normal clothes."

We both walked down the hallway and back into the living room area, where all the men were still in their normal spots. L and I walked over to our own seats and sat in them the way we usually did. I wrapped the comforter around me and held it up so that it covered my face up to my nose. Soon after, all of them started talking. That was the plan. I would stay quiet. All my findings went straight to L. That's the way it has always been, why change it now? I watched all of them talk, and heard it too. Picking up on what people say, how they say it, and what they did while saying it was what I did best. The things I had to say was either about them, or information that seemed meaningless to them.

Sure, picking up on body language was very important in law enforcement, but what I saw was not only the big actions that most people know about, but also the little insignificant signs that almost everyone dismisses. L and myself knew better though.

After a few minutes of listening to them talk and watching them move, I saw Watari come in with a big coffee mug in hand. But I knew it wasn't coffee in that mug. He walked over to in front of me and set the mug down on the little coffee table that L had his things on. When he was walking away, I told him with a large grin, "Thank you Watari. You're a life saver." It wasn't coffee, but it was the closest thing to me: Tea.

I thanked him again and he just chuckled a bit, knowing my response to tea in the early morning. I've never been much of a coffee drinker, so my number one choice in drink in the early morning was a nice warm mug of tea. But never hot. I didn't like burning my tongue so early. I took small, careful sips out of the big, ceramic mug as I continued to watch the fellow detectives at work. None of them looked my way when Watari came in. Well, except for Light. I saw his eyes shift towards me very fast, but then as soon as he saw me, he turned his attention right back to the conversation.

After about an hour, the debate continued heatedly, but was stopped by Watari's voice over the computer not too far behind L. The slightly mechanical voice informed us all of the response from the second Kira.

--

AN: Just so you all know: Sacajaymo is pronounced: Sac-ah-jah-why-moe. And don't ask me how I came up the name, I honestly have no idea. I actually did Google it right after I thought about it, and I couldn't find it. It did ask if I meant Sacajawea, though. So, no. Sacajaymo is not a real place. I know you are all so very much disappointed.

But, good news, I've finished another chapter! Yes, I know it's not very long, but cut me some slack. I've been having a little bit of difficulty coming up with ideas for this. Now, if any of you were to review, that might speed things up a bit. So please, all reviews are welcome. I love to hear what you think of what I'm writing.

Also, I do have a quick question: Does anyone know a website that will translate English to Japanese for free, and also not into Kanji? I've found plenty of websites that will translate for free, but only into Kanji. Thanks!

Thank you all for reading! (Hugs and Hearts)


	9. Aw, Come On

October 30th, 2008

Wellsboro, PA

June 21st. The day I legally became an adult. It wasn't like I was able to share such a joyous occasion with family, but it was shared with many of my friends. It was a lot of fun, even though I wasn't able to spend it with the people that mean the most to me.

Why am I in Pennsylvania? You might ask. The answer is very simple: I live here. When I'm not traveling the world with L, I'm here. Working a normal job and going to school. Here I'm normal Kariline Delvon.

But, of course, that's all fake. I don't even have a real birth certificate, let alone a real social security number, or real credentials. But here, I'm nothing more than Kari.

I've lived here for two years now. Moved out here with the help of Wammy's House. They still pay for a couple of things. Like mortgage, college tuition, and other necessities. But everything else I pay for with my paycheck from Starbucks. I graduated from the local high school back in early June, and I am currently a freshman at a local state college, majoring in food science. Of course I'm thinking about getting a real job. You know, just in case this whole detective thing doesn't work out. Both Roger and Mr. Wammy were slightly opposed to me working outside of Wammy's House, but they still support me either way. But sometimes, they try to change my mind. Like their latest attempt of getting me to come back: Getting me a new car.

Which I was currently sliding out of after a long day of lectures and labs. I causally glided up my driveway up to the front door, when I started thinking about the car. It is a silver Toyota Camry. Now that I think about it, this little present was more begging me to stay in this world, rather than begging me to return to the world of genius and people with special gifts and needs. The reason: It's a perfectly normal car, which goes very well with my perfectly normal, fake life.

I got to the front door and unlocked the deadbolt before pushing the heavy door to open it. I stepped into a very bright and open hallway that led to both the living room and kitchen. I walked down this hallway and to the living room where I set down my couple of books and notebooks onto the coffee table. This has pretty much been my routine since L banished me back home in late May. We haven't spoken since.

Of course Watari has called me. Making sure that everything is going fine and that I'm comfortable and happy. There have been times where I've thought that he worries too much about me and my happiness. Needless to say, every time we would talk, he would ask me if I wanted to talk to L. I had the same answer every time: "I'm sorry Watari. But I've been really busy with school/letters/work. Maybe next time." I was still really pissed off at L for sending me away and using the "unnecessary" card again.

I set down my purse, but before I could take my hand off of the handles, I heard a buzzing noise coming from inside the bag. I unzipped the top and looked inside. My eyes went straight for my cell phone, which was moving slightly and making the mysterious buzzing. I picked it up and looked at the front, where I saw a very familiar phone number. One that has been calling me ever since I came back here to make sure that I was doing fine.

I flipped the phone open and held it up against my ear and mouth. "Hi Watari, what's up?" I said cheerfully into the little speaker, a large grin on my face.

"Hello Katie." The voice was very familiar and quiet, but it wasn't the voice that I was expecting.

"Hello Ryuzaki." I said more solemnly, the smile disappearing.

"K…" He paused. He was nervous and didn't know what to say. Well, I shouldn't say that. He knew what to say, the problem was he didn't know how to say it.

"Yes L?" I questioned, when the silence became almost unbearable.

"I'm sorry that I missed your birthday. And I called to wish you a happy one." His voice stayed very quiet. But it wasn't soft, like how you would expect a silent voice to be like.

"That's weird," I whispered to myself, surprised, "you always wait until we see each other to say happy birthday."

"That's because I don't think we're going to be able to see each other again. You know that I don't want you coming back here."

"Yeah, I do. But what about when you finish with this case? I was thinking about heading back to Wammy's House for Christmas. It's been a while since I've been there."

"I don't think I'm coming back."

"What? Do you like Japan that much?" I knew what he was saying. I knew what he meant. I just didn't want to admit it. I already felt my throat go dry and my eyes start to water.

"There's a 95 percent chance that I will be killed in the next month." He said it so calmly, like it was something that I should know, that I should accept to be true.

"Aw, come on. Don't say that." My throat was starting to close up, disabling my breathing pattern. I turned away from my phone and coughed into the open air, a feeble attempt to open up my windpipe again.

"It's the truth." He was trying to convince me of this. He always tried to tell me that he would die because of his job. I would always retort with the question of why he always stayed hidden, and what was the purpose of that if he knew that he would die because of being a detective.

"Yeah, I know that. But that doesn't mean that you have to keep saying it." I was starting to get irritated with him. Every time he brought up his life span, it put me on edge. He knew how much this talk affected me. And yet he kept on talking.

"Promise me you won't come over here." He sounded more commanding this time. He must've been really serious to have a voice like that.

I sighed before answering. I knew I had to give him the answer that he wanted. "You don't have to worry. I think I've had a little too much Japan for a while." I paused and took a few deep breaths. He stayed quiet too. "But you have to promise me one thing." I started choking up again, it was clear in my voice and I'm sure he was able to hear it.

"What would that be?" He acted like I was talking normally. So it was either he didn't hear the slight sob in my speech, or he was choosing to ignore it.

"Call me. And I mean everyday if you can." The tears started, a smile slowly creeping onto my lips without me really noticing. "I want to talk to you before you're…gone." It was hard saying that. I didn't want to think of never seeing him again. To me, that was my worst nightmare.

"I won't be able to guarantee that, K," he said professionally, "but I will try. I know Watari will though."

"Yeah, but I want to talk to you most of the time, not Watari." I was starting to go back on edge, remembering all of our little fights throughout the ages and channeling them through my words. "I mean, I do miss him very much, but I've talked to him a lot since I've gotten back here."

"But you never wanted to talk to me." It was a statement. One that we both knew was true.

"I was mad at you. And you were always busy. I didn't want to disturb your work." They were lame excuses. We both knew, especially me. And only the first one was true. Even if he was busy, he always made time to talk with me. Whether it was two minutes or five hours. Both of us always had something to say.

Silence followed. Neither one of us had anything to say. It was a very rare moment where neither one of us were talking. But I decided to break the nearly tangible tension. "So…do you promise?"

"I told you I would try." Then silence.

I felt the tears start up again. It was the thought of never hearing him again that brought them on this time. My throat constricted and felt bone dry. It was almost like all the moisture in my throat went up to my eyes, finding another way out. I coughed once more, away from the phone, to clear it up.

"Are you feeling alright?" He sounded genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I must have something stuck in my throat." I replied, the sobbing coming through again. There was no way I was going to hide it, so I decided to end the conversation there. "I miss you, L. I'll talk to you later." Before I heard his reply, I pulled the cell phone away from my ear and mouth.

And shut it with a snap.


	10. if

November 7th, 2008

I walked through the door once more, all part of my routine, and walked into the living room. I set down my books and bag as I slumped onto the couch and started searching for the remote. I grabbed it off of the cushion next to me and turned on the TV that stood in front of the couch. I pressed the little button at the top and watched as the black, quiet screen suddenly come to life with laughter and color. I was now watching a random sitcom.

I didn't even watch it really. I was staring at the screen, hearing random words and seeing a blur of different colors, but I wasn't really paying any attention to them. I was mostly thinking of the fact that L hasn't called me since our talk about a week ago. _He must be really busy._ I kept on telling myself. But the weird thing was, Watari hasn't called me in a few days also. There have been times where I hadn't heard from him for a week or so…but still.

I soon saw the black and white credits move at lightning speed across the screen. I leaned against the arm rest of the sofa and closed my eyes. It was getting late and I had to get to sleep. Just as I turned off the TV, the house phone started ringing.

I walked over to the wall-mounted appliance and picked it up on the third ring and held it up to my ear and mouth.

"Hello?" I said into the device.

"Hello, Katie. I'm glad to see that you're doing well." I heard a voice that I haven't heard for a while.

"Roger? Wow, it's been a long time." I said, a smile replaced my tired look. "Hey, Roger, I was wondering if it was alright if-"

"I need to tell you something." He cut me off. Roger never cut someone off unless it was really something.

I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

He took a deep breath. He wasn't going to beat around the bush, just come out and say whatever was on his mind.

"Both Wammy and L are gone."

The next thing I heard was a clacking noise from below me. Like plastic hit wood very hard. I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it. My mouth was open in a silent scream and my eyes were wide with horror and disbelief as they started getting wetter. When I reached the hard-wood flooring, I continued staring at the wall opposite to me and the silence also continued. Until Roger said one more thing before the dial tone filled the room.

I'm sorry, Krystal.


	11. End Note

Hi everyone! The first TWO chapters of Here I Am have been released. I really hope that you read them and like them.

I would like to thank Aviarianna O Lorien for commenting and really inspiring me to skip through the chapters that I was having trouble with.

Thanks to everyone for reading!


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